The Balkan Wars (1912-13)

Description

After the defeat of the Russian revolution of 1905 and his escape from exile in Siberia, Trotsky settled in Vienna. There he supported his family and his own revolutionary paper, Pravda, by working as a correspondent (under a pen name) for the radical Kiev newspaper, Kievskaya Mysl. When war against Turkey was about to break out in 1912, that paper sent him to the Balkans as its military correspondent. The articles he wrote are translated into English for the first time in this volume. Brilliant and penetrating on military matters, these writings also describe the effects of the war on social conditions and popular moods, the diplomatic manoeuvring of the ‘great powers’ of Europe, and the political aims of the dynasties and cliques in Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Turkey. In addition, Trotsky provides sketches and analyses of the Persian revolution of 1906-09 and the Young Turk revolution of 1908; discerning and at times comical portrayals of nationalist politicians and provincial office-holders; portraits of revolutionary socialists and leaders of partisan bands.